Tints of Nature Permanent Hair Color

After trying out and reviewing the wonderful hair-cutting system: CreaClip a week ago and giving my hair a significant snip; I continued with my hair-improvement "mission" this past weekend.

My tresses got a long-overdue hair coloring, using Tints of Nature in 5N Natural Light Brown. I actually had left my hair very neglected in terms of any coloring for over a year. Giving it a rest I guess. And rather lazy on my part too. And it certainly needed coloring, especially at the front where my hair had become a real mess of grey, white and faded brown. 

                       

 Here's a photo taken at the front of my head, before coloring:

                        

                                 

               

Photo after coloring with Tints of Nature. Natural Light Brown:



                                                                                   

This is a flash photo (not the best) as it was rather dark and cloudy here on the weekend. The color is  a rich, even brown. I would say more of a medium brown actually.  My hair also feels like it's in  better condition, after coloring with Tints of Nature, softer and easier to style. Best of all, the fresh color is a big improvement over my former "patchwork grey"  look!

                                               

From the Tints of Nature website:

Tints of Nature is the only available line of permanent hair colors to use natural, certified organic ingredients wherever feasible. The highly effective formula also has a naturally derived base. It is paraben free and contains no harsh ammonia, resorcinol or nonoxynol, thus helping to ensure damage free results. We use extra mild, low odor, pharmaceutical grade peroxide and the lowest possible percentage of PPD pigments (Paraphenylenediamines) - ranging from 1N (the darkest) at 2.0% to 10XL (the lightest) at 0.03% - giving an average of 0.6% across the line. You can darken your hair by several shades, lighten it by 1- 1 1/2 shades, simply match or even enhance your natural color, and gently but effectively cover all gray hair. You can choose the color and we take care of the condition - leaving your hair soft and silky with a deep and lasting shine.

                           

What did I like about this product?

First of all, any hair color product that cuts down significantly on harmful or questionable ingredients has my vote and interest, right off the bat. Having said that, it's still got to work and work well.

Tints of Nature actually colored my hair better than the mainstream commercial permanent color brands (ie Clairol etc..) I used years ago. In recent years, I had been trying out a variety of semi-permanents and other products like henna, sage rinse....

It wasn't messy to apply. When mixed and ready to use, it has a thick consistency that barely dripped.

There was plenty of product to cover all my hair and I have a lot of hair!

The kit came complete with a generous sample of color safe shampoo and also a conditioner.

And what didn't I like?

 When the hair color product was first mixed and applied to my hair it had a strong, kind of "fishy" smell, which lasted for several minutes and then diminished. Not unbearable by any means but some odor, which is not unexpected with hair coloring.

The shampoo was rather frothy and hard to rinse out, I realized afterwards that I could have used only half the packet to wash my hair and it would have been enough.

 The conditioner had a strong, perfumey scent which I didn't like but again not unbearable. I'm not much of a fan of strong scents in products at any time.

Not a negative comment but it would be great if this company offered a smaller re-touch size product kit as well. I don't like throwing away product that I can't use and this full-size kit will definitely be too much product when I re-touch my hair in a few weeks from now. And re-touch I will!

I'm so happy to finally "wash that grey right out of my hair". It was long overdue.

  

Overall rating for this product: Very Good. 4 out of 5.

HerbaTint Hair Color



I tried this "herbal" hair color product a few months ago. I was not impressed with the results I got. I actually gave it a couple of attempts, adjusting the shade I had originally chosen (first Brown, then Light Chestnut) attempting to achieve a medium brown color. What I ended up with was a blotchy mess! And both times, the color was also much darker than what I expected, almost black at the back of my head,where my natural  hair color is darker.  It took weeks to lighten up and I ended up snipping off a considerable amount of hair at the time to get rid of the unexpected/unsatisfactory results.

At the time of my first HerbaTint application, I hadn't used any color products on my hair for several months. Not exactly "virgin" hair but at the same time, not with a lot of build-up from other products that could have impacted the results I got from this product.

My hair was also very dry and brittle after using Herbatint. I personally know of another woman who swears by this product, I don't really know why though. Her hair is a mess: frizzy and a very unflattering blotchy mix of colors, at the best of times.

I bought HerbaTint at a health food store and for that reason, believed at the time that it was safer and less toxic that the mainstream hair color choices like: Clairol, L'Oreal etc. I should have done my homework it seems. Based on the ingredient list here, and some toxicity reports I've read online since I used it, it's questionable if this is any better, in terms of a safer alternative to hair coloring.

I don't really know if there is such a thing as a natural hair color product (for me, it's been to attain a medium brown color) unless you stick with homemade mixtures such as: sage rinse (tried it, didn't do much), walnut shells, various herbal teas and rinses etc...or henna (can be a bit tricky to achieve consistent color results and quite messy).

 

So for now, I'm giving my hair a rest from any type of coloring. Instead, I'm focusing on getting my hair into good condition and plan to go for a significant "trim" in the near future.

Shiny, healthy, attractive hair can and does come in many colors, even when it's mixed with some grey or white. I colored my hair for many years with the mainstream commercial hair color products. I don't want to continue to use these products for many reasons now. But if a more natural and eco-friendly alternative does present itself (if you know of any, please share) I'm still up for giving it a try.

Overall rating for this product: Unsatisfactory. 1 out of 5.